1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inkjet recording method.
2. Description of the Related Art
With recent rapid advances in the information technology industry, various types of information processing systems have been developed, and recording methods and recording devices suitable for the respective information processing systems have been put to practical use. Among these, inkjet recording methods have been widely used because it is possible to record on various kinds of recording materials thereby, the hardware (devices) is relatively cheap and compact and the methods are favorably quiet in operation. Furthermore, in recording that uses an inkjet recording method, it has become possible to obtain “photograph-like” high quality recorded matter.
A recording material for inkjet recording is generally required to have characteristics including (1) quick-drying property (high absorption speed of ink), (2) an adequate and uniform dot diameter (free from blurring), (3) excellent granularity, (4) high dot sphericity, (5) high color density, (6) high color saturation (no dullness), (7) excellent water resistance, weather resistance and ozone resistance of an image portion, (8) high whiteness, (9) high storage stability (free from yellowing and blurring of an image during long-term storage), (10) resistance to deformation; that is, high dimensional stability (low curling) and (11) excellent hardware operability.
In consideration of the foregoing, a recording material in which an ink-receiving layer has a porous structure has been recently put to practical use. Such a recording material is said to have excellent quick-drying property and high glossiness. However, higher quality is always demanded for recorded images. In particular, the requirements for color density and tincture of images are particularly strict. For example, it is important that a high density region has a deep color in view of contrast of image and sharpness in shading, and that bronzing is inhibited from occurring in view of hue and color.
In order to provide a recording method capable of reproducing images of excellent color, a recording method has been disclosed in which an image is formed on a recording material having a recording layer, to which a water-soluble high molecular substance having a hydroxyl group has been applied, by use of an inkjet recording method that uses an aqueous ink that contains a water-dispersible or water-soluble colorant, a wetting agent, boric acid or a borate, and water and has the surface tension of 50 mJ/m2 or less and a pH of 8 or more (see, for instance, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 06-032047).
In order to provide an ink with which blurring at boundaries is suppressed and, consequently, inkjet recording capable of high-speed printing and photograph-like image quality is realized, an ink having a boron content in the range of from 10 ppb to 30 ppb has been disclosed (see, for instance, JP-A No. 2003-096362).
In order to provide an ink composition for inkjet recording, which enables recording of images having particularly high light resistance, high ozone resistance and high scratch resistance, an ink composition for inkjet recording, which contains at least an ethylenically unsaturated monomer, a dye having an oxidation potential nobler than 1.0 V (vs SCE) and an organic boron compound has been disclosed (see, for instance, JP-A No. 2006-016455).
In order to provide an inkjet recording method that enables formation of an image having excellent gas fastness and light fastness, an inkjet recording method has been disclosed in which an ink set that contains at least a yellow ink containing at least one yellow dye, a magenta ink containing at least one magenta dye and a cyan ink containing at least one cyan dye and in which the respective oxidation potentials of the magenta and cyan dyes are nobler than 0.8V (vs SCE), is applied to an ink jet recording sheet including a support and, on the support, a colorant-receiving layer containing at least one inorganic mordant, to form an image (see, for instance, JP-A No. 2004-001469).
However, even in the existing technologies, occurrence of bronzing has been difficult to suppress in some cases. Furthermore, there are cases in which photograph-like image quality is difficult to obtain due to a significant difference in glossiness between an image portion formed with the inkjet ink and a non-image portion.